MARYLAND'S TOXIC "DEAD LEAD" HISTORY - BALTIMORE LEAD (Pb) DEFENSE ATTORNEYS

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Charles Jerome Ware, LLC is a premier, Baltimore Area-based, nationally known and respected landlord lead-based paint poisoning defense law firm. For an initial courtesy consultation, contact the firm at (410) 720-6129.  We can help you.


Lead (Pb) has been used industrially in the Baltimore area since Colonial times. Lead use in Maryland started with  so-called "white lead' ( basic lead carbonate)  and ultimately peaked in 1922.
Lead can be hazardous in sufficient amounts to the human body when inhaled and/or ingested; and particularly in children up to age 6.


In 1951, Baltimore banned the use of lead pigment in interior paint in Baltimore housing. This was the very first such lead restriction in the United States.


Following public pressure, in 1955 the lead paint industry began working with public health officials and organizations to adopt  "voluntary" national standards to prohibit, in effect, the use of lead pigments in interior residential paints


Through the 1950s and 1960s, the use of exterior lead-based paint ( not interior)declined, and eventually ended by the early 1970s.


In 1971, the Federal Lead Poisoning Prevention Act was passed.


In 1978, the Federal government banned consumer and residential uses of lead (Pb) paint. This  is the basic cut-off year for residential lead paint poisoning cases in Maryland and elsewhere in the United States.


When the Federal Lead Poisoning Prevention Act was passed in 1971, a blood lead level of 60 micrograms per deciliter was considered relatively " safe" by officials. In 1991, referencing "very recent research", the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) lowered the blood lead level of concern to 10 mcg/dl or above, where it remained until 2012, when the CDC established a new measure of blood lead levels --- called the "reference level" --- that was set up to include the highest 2.5 % of tested children. That "reference level" value, which is not truly health-based per se, will most likely change over time and circumstances --- and is currently 5 mcg/dl.


As of December 6, 1996, Federal law mandates the disclosure of any known lead (Pb)  hazard
in a residential unit (house or apartment, etc.) put up for sale or lease.